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Manipulating Every American – Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Boehner, McConnell and their Acolytes

The essence of Government is power; and power, lodged as it must be in human hands, will ever be liable to abuse. —James Madison, Speech in the Virginia State Convention of 1829-1830

Manipulating Every American – Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Boehner, McConnell and their Acolytes

Why did our American Founders work so hard to create a limited and defined government? To develop a small government with restricted powers? It's because they feared the gigantic power of government. Seeking personal freedom, our Founders sought to control government by dispersing power among many different entities and persons. The three branches of government – Executive, Congressional and Judiciary – are just one example of the many institutional controls intended to restrict the enormous power of government.

Presently, five elected leaders and their acolytes are making tax and spending decisions impacting every American. This is not freedom. Worse, this produces terrible policies by incompetent politicians.

The following are a list of tax increases our politicians are manipulating, according to The Wall Street Journal:

Income taxes:On Jan. 1, ...a new top rate of 39.6% and the elimination of the 10% lowest rate.

Other related tax provisions:Also expiring are a range of Bush- and Obama-era credits and breaks aimed at lower-income households, including expanded child tax credits. Higher-income taxpayers would pay more ... on deductions and exemptions return. Fixes for the so-called marriage penalty... expire.

Investment taxes: Taxes on capital gains would return ... including a top rate of 20%, and taxes on dividends would revert to taxpayers’ regular marginal income-tax rates.

Estate taxes:The top rate would rise from 35% to 55% and the tax would kick in at $1 million per individual, up from $5.12 million today.AMT: The IRS ... would...levy the alternative minimum tax on 30 million additional filers for 2012 income, including some making as little as $45,000 a year.

Payroll taxes:A two-year cut of two percentage points in the Social Security payroll-tax is set to expire ....

Unemployment insurance:Jobless benefits have been extended since the recession. But with federal programs set to expire at year’s end, more than 40% of the nearly five million Americans receiving unemployment insurance could lose their benefits.

Corporate tax breaks:..in need of renewal are a number of tax provisions, known as extenders, ... R&D tax credits and alternative-energy breaks.

These taxes and spending cuts are completely controlled by the President and Congress, and they are manipulating every American's use and enjoyment of their income – the product of their time, money and ingenuity. These are abuses of government power and infliction of coercive policies, and exactly what our Founders feared. As George Mason wrote in the Virginia Declaration of Rights of 1776:

That all Men are born equally free and independent, and have certain inherent natural Right…; among which are the Enjoyment of Life and Liberty, with the Means of acquiring and possessing Property, and pursuing and obtaining Happiness and Safety.

Harmfully, for many years, predatory interest groups and complicit politicians have abused the power of government. Money is extracted from working Americans and is then distributed, by our politicians, to their favored special-interest groups. Obviously, some special-interest predators are more enhanced by the benefits bestowed upon them. Our excessive debt and the need for additional revenue to fund ObamaCare, our federal government must extract more taxes and determine what benefits and programs should be cut.

Thus, this weekend, America is waiting for a the political elites to rule. Do we have extended unemployment? Is there a marriage penalty? What is the tax rate on … uh, on almost everything? This is not freedom. This is dependency and subservience to the elected elite.

To restore freedom, much must be changed.

First, Americans must recognize the problem. Special-interest predators and complicit politicians will always seek to hijack and abuse the power of government.

Second, we need to prevent ourselves from being dependent on government, which doesn’t keep or honor its promises.

Fourth, we need to keep, spend, invest our own money. Each individual knows their needs and wants better than the likes of Obama, Pelosi, Reid, Boehner, McConnell and their acolytes.

Yes, these are gigantic changes, but many countries are making big and beneficial changes – Sweden, New Zealand, Germany, Canada, Singapore, Poland, Chile and more - to help their countrymen live better lives. Freedom cannot thrive if government is controlled by only a few people and is arbitrarily confiscating and distributing the income of every American. Change must begin, NOW.

Don and Steve, This crisis is totally a result of the incompetence and corruption of our political elites – Republicans and Democrats. Yes, we need major reform. Our philosophical guide is for government to protect people and their rightfully obtained property. Instead of government confiscating the worker's property for their political advancement, government protects everyone from the force of others, especially the gigantic power of government.

Let us hope the "doc fix" expiration will lead to the implosion of single payer health care. In fact most of the items on the cliff list above are fine with me. 99 weeks of unemployment insurance is bad for a career. The 5% spending cuts a baby step. We need real reform and not a band-aid with more corrupt loopholes.

You can't trust government with money
Not rich people's money
Not poor people's money
Not right wing money
Not left wing money
A $16.4 TRILLION DEBT is PROOF that
YOU CAN'T TRUST GOVERNMENT WITH MONEY.

In one of the more infamous statements regarding the process in which Democrats sought to force-feed health care reform to the American people, former Speaker of the House Nancy Pelosi quipped, "We have to pass the bill so you can find out what is in it".

President Obama and House Speaker John Boehner are currently negotiating a deficit reduction deal to stop the sequester “cuts.” The main fight is over Obama’s proposal to raise federal income taxes on Americans making over $250,000 a year. While Boehner claims he is opposed to raising the top two income tax brackets, some worry that he will accept a bad tax-hiking deal in order to stop the sequester.

What should Congress do on the Fiscal Cliff? 1) Lock in $1.2 trillion in ten-year sequester savings. 2) Extend ALL current tax rates for one year. 3) Reform taxes and entitlements to avert another debt downgrade. Questions?
P.S. From now on, every debt ceiling increase should be offset by an equivalent amount of spending reductions, in the same bill. No more kicking the can down the road!
That is all.

A skilled poker player as they say, never shows his cards. Republicans seemingly haven't heard such advice. With 'fiscal cliff' negotiations taking place in the media of late, they are proving to be poor poker players, poor negotiators, and all-too-willing to fold.

With Congress set to convene to tackle sequestration and the fiscal cliff, the talk has once again centered around federal budget cuts and their potential effects. Tax hikes are back on the table, according to a few prominent Republicans this weekend. A large number of difficult military cuts looms. But few are thinking about the other layers of public spending that will be affected. State budgets will see massive effects from a potent mix of direct spending cuts and revenue reductions based, ironically, on the expiration of the Bush Tax Cuts.

This past Sunday in the New York Times, Paul Krugman opined about a better time in America when the Twinkie was still revered, when families huddled around their black and white television to watch "The Howdy Doody Show" and the wealthiest among us paid their "fair share" by means of a 91% marginal tax rate. Aw, yes the good ol' days....